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	<title>Prime Notebook Computer Review &#187; MacBook Air</title>
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		<title>Dell Adamo XPS</title>
		<link>http://www.primenotebook.com/dell-adamo-xps.html</link>
		<comments>http://www.primenotebook.com/dell-adamo-xps.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 24 Jun 2010 11:31:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>tito</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Notebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Adamo XPS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[aluminum chassis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dell Adamo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dell Adamo XPS]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Intel Core 2]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[laptop manufacturers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[MacBook Air]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[thinnest laptop]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.primenotebook.com/?p=72799</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Ever since the MacBook Air  was pulled out of a manila envelope, other laptop manufacturers have attempted to dethrone it as the world&#8217;s thinnest laptop. Dell&#8217;s first effort, the Dell Adamo, certainly invited comparisons to the MacBook Air, with its aluminum &#8220;Unibody&#8221; enclosure, thin profile, and non-removable battery. Unfortunately, its $2,000 price tag was deemed [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: justify"><a href="http://www.primenotebook.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Dell-Adamo-XPS3.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-72800" src="http://www.primenotebook.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Dell-Adamo-XPS3.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="300" /></a>Ever since the MacBook Air  was pulled out of a manila envelope, other laptop manufacturers have attempted to dethrone it as the world&#8217;s thinnest laptop. Dell&#8217;s first effort, the Dell Adamo, certainly invited comparisons to the MacBook Air, with its aluminum &#8220;Unibody&#8221; enclosure, thin profile, and non-removable battery. Unfortunately, its $2,000 price tag was deemed way too expensive. Now, Dell is poised to take a second shot at the crown with the Dell Adamo XPS, which continues the luxury theme of its predecessor, adds a couple of &#8220;wow&#8221; features to its arsenal, and brings the price down to $1,799. For a brand known for mainstream middle-of-the-road laptops (and now inexpensive Netbooks), Dell has put a surprising amount of effort into creating high-end products. The company acquired gaming PC leader Alienware, launched the XPS and Studio lines, and created the Adamo, its ultra high-end laptop. <span id="more-72799"></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify">Design<br />
The first thing anyone notices about the Adamo XPS is its profile. It measures 13.39 inches wide by 10.78 inches long. With the lid closed, it measures 0.41 inches at the thickest part of the chassis (the back) and slopes down to 0.38 inches at the front. Compare that with the original Adamo, which measured 0.65 inches thin all around. The Adamo XPS weighs 3.2 pounds with the standard 4-cell battery. Despite the light weight (no doubt partly attributable to its aluminum chassis) the Adamo XPS felt solid in my hands.</p>
<p>There is a colorless, capacitive touch strip at the front edge of the Adamo XPS&#8217;s lid. Simply run your finger across the strip, and the lid opens with an almost inaudible click. It&#8217;s this kind of unexpected touch (no pun intended) that I think will distinguish the Adamo XPS from others in the luxury ultraportable category.</p>
<p>Keyboard &amp; Touchpad<br />
When fully opened, the keyboard sits at about a 20-degree angle. It&#8217;s an unusual setup, but one that provides a better raised typing experience than the average flat laptop keyboard (although some readers have told us they dislike angled keyboards). We also liked the solid-feeling metal keys and the reasonably large touch pad. The right Shift key is smaller than the left one, but not horribly so, but the row of Function keys is both small and set flush to the keyboard tray surface, making them hard to hit. Still, the overall typing experience is good, and we quickly adapted to the layout and its flat, widely spaced keys. Measuring 3 x 1.7 inches, the touchpad on the Adamo XPS is decently sized, and offered little resistance while sliding our finger across. Multitouch gestures are enabled, and we found it easy to pinch to zoom in on photos and documents. Two discrete mouse buttons below were a touch soft, but were otherwise fine.</p>
<p>Ports and Webcam<br />
adamo-webcamAt the base of the notebook by the battery are two USB ports, one on each side, and a DisplayPort on the left. On the right is a headphone and mic port. Helping make up for this paucity of ports is a dongle that comes with the unit, and allows users to connect Ethernet and DVI. An optional VGA and HDMI dongle costs extra. The 2-megapixel webcam offered fairly good visuals while chatting with a friend over Skype, but he noted that the image froze every now and then; however, this was most likely due to our Internet connection.</p>
<p>Display &amp; Audio<br />
The 13.4-inch wide-screen LED display offers a 1,366&#215;768-pixel native resolution, which is standard for an upscale 13-inch system. Screen images were bight and clear, although the overly glossy screen coating picked up plenty of glare. The stereo speakers, mounted on the bottom surface (which would be raised off the ground when the laptop lid is open) are tinny and underpowered; we suggest headphones for almost all audio use.</p>
<p>Performance</p>
<p>The 1.4-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo U9400 and 4GB of RAM powered the Adamo XPS to a PCMark Vantage score of 3964, 1200 points above the ultraportable average. The only other system with similar specs—the Samsung X360, which had the same processor and a 128GB SSD—scored 3,184. Still, the Sony Vaio Z, which costs $100 more, but has a 2.4-GHz Intel Core i5-520M processor and two SSDs, scored two and a half times higher: 9936. The Adamo XPS’ Samsung 128GB SSD (PB22 JS3) was quite zippy, booting the 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium operating system in just 33 seconds. The drive duplicated a 4.97GB folder of multimedia files in 1 minute and 54 seconds, a rate of 44.6 MBps. While that’s more than twice the ultraportable average (21.6 MBps), it pales in comparison to the Vaio Z’s transfer rate of 127 MBps (which has twin SSDs). Transcoding a 114MB MPEG-4 to AVI using Oxelon Media Encoder took 1 minute and 46 seconds, 12 seconds faster than the ultraportable average, but about a minute longer than the Vaio Z.</p>
<p>Predictably, graphics scores from the integrated Intel GMA4500MHD GPU were pretty low. The Adamo XPS scored just 701 on 3DMark06, about 150 points below the category average, and other recent 13-inch systems, such as the Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 13 (908), and the Sony Vaio Y (906). The Sony Vaio Z’s integrated graphics also proved far superior, notching 1,900 on the same test.</p>
<p>When playing World of Warcraft at 1024 x 768 and with graphics set to default, we eked out just 23 frames per second. Still, the machine was powerful enough to make for a smooth experience when flying around New York City in Google Earth.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>The MacBook Air Green Notebook : Airy Design</title>
		<link>http://www.primenotebook.com/the-macbook-air-green-notebook-airy-design.html</link>
		<comments>http://www.primenotebook.com/the-macbook-air-green-notebook-airy-design.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 20 Apr 2010 07:18:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>tito</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Notebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Apple]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[apple notebooks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Google Docs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hardware]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Intel Core 2]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[keyboard project]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mac OS X]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[MacBook Air]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[pixel resolution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[size keyboard]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.primenotebook.com/?p=72584</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The MacBook Air is driving me insane. I want it like no other hardware. It&#8217;s thin, yea, ok, we know this. And many power users have been bitching for more: 3G, bigger storage, more USB ports, and an internal drive. If you feel that way, this computer isn&#8217;t for you. I&#8217;ll go ahead and call [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: justify"><a href="http://www.primenotebook.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Untitled-1.png"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-72587" src="http://www.primenotebook.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Untitled-1.png" alt="" width="300" height="300" /></a>The MacBook Air is driving me insane. I want it like no other hardware. It&#8217;s thin, yea, ok, we know this. And many power users have been bitching for more: 3G, bigger storage, more USB ports, and an internal drive. If you feel that way, this computer isn&#8217;t for you. I&#8217;ll go ahead and call it the most simple, focused, and beautiful laptop ever. And the MacBook Air&#8217;s shortcomings matter no more than the discomfort that fashionistas endure while wearing high heels, or car fanatics do when they have to fill up their tanks twice a week in their 5MPG sports cars. It just doesn&#8217;t matter to those who are smitten. For the rest of you, here are the facts.<span id="more-72584"></span></p>
<p><strong>Design</strong><br />
The MacBook Air maintains one of the sveltest profiles in mobile computing. When closed, its profile is unbelievably thin, measuring just 0.7 inches at its meatiest point. As with the previous MacBook Air, the new model keeps the same minimalist look by housing the lone USB port, headphone, and Mini-DisplayPort connections behind a small door built into the right, rear corner of the chassis. On the opposite side of the notebook you’ll find the MagSafe power jack, which represents the only other port on the entire system.</p>
<p>Still, you get a full-size keyboard with Chiclet-styled keys that are the staple of Apple notebooks. The individual keys delivered good tactile feedback as we keyed in URLs and crafted e-mails. The backlight-ready keyboard project a cool, white illumination in low-light situations (you can adjust brightness with the F5 and F6 keys). The multitouch trackpad allowed us to scroll through Web pages in Safari effortlessly by swiping three fingers across its surface, and zoom in and out of photos using pinch gestures.</p>
<p>The 13.3-inch (1280 x 800-pixel resolution) LED display remains one of the best in the ultraportable space. Colors were brilliant and blacks were rich when we viewed downloaded Flickr images and movie trailers at Apple.com. The high-gloss screen kicks back reflections (especially when viewing a Web page with a dark color scheme), but viewing angles were quite good.</p>
<p><strong>Display</strong><br />
he screen on the MacBook is very nice, with vibrant colors and intense backlight. Black levels are nice and even with very little backlight bleed showing through even on very dark scenes in movies or games. Comfortable viewing brightness during my review was around 15-20%, matching 80% on my Thinkpad. 100% on the MacBook Air is close to the brightness levels that my desktop LCD can reach. Viewing angles of the LCD were above average.</p>
<p>Horizontal viewing range was perfect up until the screen was blocked by metal backing, but vertical viewing range was limited if you went 10 to 15 degrees up or down from straight on.</p>
<p>No screen defects were present on our online purchased model; this included stuck and dead pixels as well as backlight bleed.</p>
<p><strong>Keyboard</strong><br />
Apple&#8217;s full Keyboard and LCD Screen give the Air a footprint larger than that of the competition. Counterintuitive, but it works. That nagging feeling you get when you have to tuck into a few hours of work into a subnote&#8217;s tiny interfaces are gone, so I&#8217;d have no hesitation using the Air for 8 hours a day. The keyboard is backlit, and black, perhaps as a homage to the titanium notebooks from Apple a few generations back. (And will be useful in keeping the keys from looking disgusting after a few months.) The spacing is the same as that on the standard MacBook, which I like, it has arrows and the updated dashboard, expose, and spaces buttons on top. The keyboard is also backlit, and uses the ambient light sensor to change its brightness.</p>
<p><strong>Performance</strong><br />
The 1.86-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor (an upgrade from the previous model’s 1.6-GHz CPU) and 2GB of non-expandable DDR3 RAM may not be breathtaking specs, but they were more than capable of delivering a very smooth Mac OS X Leopard experience. Applications loaded quickly, and we didn’t encounter many instances of the dreaded “pinwheel” that appears when the system hangs even while videochatting with friends in iChat, streaming audio from Slacker Internet Radio, and working within Google Docs. The smooth performance even held up when we converted a 2-minute-and-16-second video clip (720 x 480-pixel resolution) from MP4 to AVI in just 65 seconds.</p>
<p>Using Geekbench (which evaluates CPU and RAM performance), the MacBook Air notched a score of 2,526, which was lower than the aluminum MacBook  (3,512) and the 15-inch MacBook Pro (3,672), which feature 2.4-GHz and 2.53-GHz processors, respectively. The OS booted in a quick 31 seconds, approximately half the time of typical Vista-powered notebooks.</p>
<p><strong>Battery and Power</strong><br />
Apple claimed five hours of battery life with wireless enabled, and from my testing I think that would be possible &#8230; under the right situation. With screen brightness at 25%, Bluetooth off, and WiFi on, the MacBook Air got 4 hours and 20 minutes of battery life with above average web activity. Half of this time was spent in Mac OS, with the other half in Vista. If you had very light internet traffic, or even had wireless disabled and were just typing on the notebook you should get five hours or more productivity from the battery.</p>
<p>One huge complaint this notebook gets in my opinion is the integrated battery. Not only can you not swap the battery if it dies while traveling, but to make matters worse the charging speed is abysmal. Our MacBook Air from a dead state would only reach 25-30% after charging for one hour with the notebook turned off. On most notebooks, in this period of time the battery would be well above 50% if not much higher.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify">
<strong>Spec</strong></p>
<ul style="text-align: justify">
<li>CPU 1.86-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Operating SystemOS X 10.5 Leopard</li>
<li>RAM 2GB</li>
<li>RAM Upgradable to 2GB</li>
<li>Hard Drive Size 128GB</li>
<li>Hard Drive Type SSD Drive</li>
<li>Display Size 13.3</li>
<li>Native Resolution 1280&#215;800</li>
<li>Graphics Card Nvidia GeForce 9400M</li>
<li>Video Memory 256MB</li>
<li>Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n</li>
<li>Bluetooth Bluetooth 2.1+EDR</li>
<li>Ports (excluding USB) Headphone; Mini DisplayPort USB Ports</li>
<li>Warranty/SupportOne-year limited/90-day toll-free phone Size12.8 x 8.9 x 0.7 inches Weight3.0 pounds</li>
</ul>
<div style="width: 1px;height: 1px;overflow: hidden;text-align: justify">The MacBook Air is driving me insane. I want it like no other hardware. It&#8217;s thin, yea, ok, we know this. And many power users have been bitching for more: 3G, bigger storage, more USB ports, and an internal drive. If you feel that way, this computer isn&#8217;t for you. I&#8217;ll go ahead and call it the most simple, focused, and beautiful laptop ever. And the MacBook Air&#8217;s shortcomings matter no more than the discomfort that fashionistas endure while wearing high heels, or car fanatics do when they have to fill up their tanks twice a week in their 5MPG sports cars. It just doesn&#8217;t matter to those who are smitten. For the rest of you, here are the facts.</p>
<p>Design<br />
The MacBook Air maintains one of the sveltest profiles in mobile computing. When closed, its profile is unbelievably thin, measuring just 0.7 inches at its meatiest point. As with the previous MacBook Air, the new model keeps the same minimalist look by housing the lone USB port, headphone, and Mini-DisplayPort connections behind a small door built into the right, rear corner of the chassis. On the opposite side of the notebook you’ll find the MagSafe power jack, which represents the only other port on the entire system.</p>
<p>Still, you get a full-size keyboard with Chiclet-styled keys that are the staple of Apple notebooks. The individual keys delivered good tactile feedback as we keyed in URLs and crafted e-mails. The backlight-ready keyboard project a cool, white illumination in low-light situations (you can adjust brightness with the F5 and F6 keys). The multitouch trackpad allowed us to scroll through Web pages in Safari effortlessly by swiping three fingers across its surface, and zoom in and out of photos using pinch gestures.</p>
<p>The 13.3-inch (1280 x 800-pixel resolution) LED display remains one of the best in the ultraportable space. Colors were brilliant and blacks were rich when we viewed downloaded Flickr images and movie trailers at Apple.com. The high-gloss screen kicks back reflections (especially when viewing a Web page with a dark color scheme), but viewing angles were quite good.</p>
<p>Display<br />
he screen on the MacBook is very nice, with vibrant colors and intense backlight. Black levels are nice and even with very little backlight bleed showing through even on very dark scenes in movies or games. Comfortable viewing brightness during my review was around 15-20%, matching 80% on my Thinkpad. 100% on the MacBook Air is close to the brightness levels that my desktop LCD can reach. Viewing angles of the LCD were above average.</p>
<p>Horizontal viewing range was perfect up until the screen was blocked by metal backing, but vertical viewing range was limited if you went 10 to 15 degrees up or down from straight on.</p>
<p>No screen defects were present on our online purchased model; this included stuck and dead pixels as well as backlight bleed.</p>
<p>Keyboard<br />
Apple&#8217;s full Keyboard and LCD Screen give the Air a footprint larger than that of the competition. Counterintuitive, but it works. That nagging feeling you get when you have to tuck into a few hours of work into a subnote&#8217;s tiny interfaces are gone, so I&#8217;d have no hesitation using the Air for 8 hours a day. The keyboard is backlit, and black, perhaps as a homage to the titanium notebooks from Apple a few generations back. (And will be useful in keeping the keys from looking disgusting after a few months.) The spacing is the same as that on the standard MacBook, which I like, it has arrows and the updated dashboard, expose, and spaces buttons on top. The keyboard is also backlit, and uses the ambient light sensor to change its brightness.</p>
<p>Performance<br />
The 1.86-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor (an upgrade from the previous model’s 1.6-GHz CPU) and 2GB of non-expandable DDR3 RAM may not be breathtaking specs, but they were more than capable of delivering a very smooth Mac OS X Leopard experience. Applications loaded quickly, and we didn’t encounter many instances of the dreaded “pinwheel” that appears when the system hangs even while videochatting with friends in iChat, streaming audio from Slacker Internet Radio, and working within Google Docs. The smooth performance even held up when we converted a 2-minute-and-16-second video clip (720 x 480-pixel resolution) from MP4 to AVI in just 65 seconds.</p>
<p>Using Geekbench (which evaluates CPU and RAM performance), the MacBook Air notched a score of 2,526, which was lower than the aluminum MacBook  (3,512) and the 15-inch MacBook Pro (3,672), which feature 2.4-GHz and 2.53-GHz processors, respectively. The OS booted in a quick 31 seconds, approximately half the time of typical Vista-powered notebooks.</p>
<p>Battery and Power<br />
Apple claimed five hours of battery life with wireless enabled, and from my testing I think that would be possible &#8230; under the right situation. With screen brightness at 25%, Bluetooth off, and WiFi on, the MacBook Air got 4 hours and 20 minutes of battery life with above average web activity. Half of this time was spent in Mac OS, with the other half in Vista. If you had very light internet traffic, or even had wireless disabled and were just typing on the notebook you should get five hours or more productivity from the battery.</p>
<p>One huge complaint this notebook gets in my opinion is the integrated battery. Not only can you not swap the battery if it dies while traveling, but to make matters worse the charging speed is abysmal. Our MacBook Air from a dead state would only reach 25-30% after charging for one hour with the notebook turned off. On most notebooks, in this period of time the battery would be well above 50% if not much higher.</p>
<p>CPU 1.86-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Operating SystemOS X 10.5 Leopard<br />
RAM 2GB<br />
RAM Upgradable to 2GB<br />
Hard Drive Size 128GB<br />
Hard Drive Type SSD Drive<br />
Display Size 13.3<br />
Native Resolution 1280&#215;800<br />
Graphics Card Nvidia GeForce 9400M<br />
Video Memory 256MB<br />
Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n<br />
Bluetooth Bluetooth 2.1+EDR<br />
Ports (excluding USB) Headphone; Mini DisplayPort USB Ports<br />
Warranty/SupportOne-year limited/90-day toll-free phone Size12.8 x 8.9 x 0.7 inches Weight3.0 pounds</p></div>
]]></content:encoded>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>All Day Battery Life : Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch</title>
		<link>http://www.primenotebook.com/all-day-battery-life-apple-macbook-pro-15-inch.html</link>
		<comments>http://www.primenotebook.com/all-day-battery-life-apple-macbook-pro-15-inch.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 15 Apr 2010 03:10:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>tito</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Notebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[aluminum chassis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Apple]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dual core processor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hardware]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Intel Core 2]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Macintosh]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[soft synths]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Steve Jobs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[traditional keyboards]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.primenotebook.com/?p=72560</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The new Macbook Pro line boasts some great new features like 7 hour battery life and a sleek, environmentally friendly unibody. This model has a fast 2.66GHz dual core processor and 4GB of RAM which is great for programs like Logic that use Memory for soft synths and samples. The Macbook is highly portable, stylish [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: justify"><a href="http://www.primenotebook.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/apple-macbook-pro-15-inch.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-72562" src="http://www.primenotebook.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/apple-macbook-pro-15-inch.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="300" /></a>The new Macbook Pro line boasts some great new features like 7 hour battery life and a sleek, environmentally friendly unibody. This model has a fast 2.66GHz dual core processor and 4GB of RAM which is great for programs like Logic that use Memory for soft synths and samples. The Macbook is highly portable, stylish and will give you years of recording functionality without so much as stopping for breath!<span id="more-72560"></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify"><strong>Design</strong><br />
The 15-inch MacBook Pro sports the same carved-from-a-single-chunk-of-metal unibody design as its brethren, with a sturdy aluminum chassis and rounded edges. The overall look is classy and modern, though it makes upgrading individual components (like the RAM and hard drive) more difficult, as the entire bottom must be unscrewed.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify">The MacBook Pro has the same dimensions as before (14.4 x 9.8 x 1.0 inches), but weighs a slightly heavier 5.6 pounds. While we definitely felt it carrying the machine home, it did fit in our messenger bag, which is more than we can say about most 15-inch notebooks. The only system that comes close is the HP Envy 15, which has an equally slim and stylish profile (15.0 x 9.6 x 1.0 inches) and weighs a lighter 5.2 pounds. Regardless, this notebook will take up your entire tray table if you take it on a flight.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify"><strong><a href="http://www.primenotebook.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/keyboard-and-touchpad-2.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-72559" src="http://www.primenotebook.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/keyboard-and-touchpad-2.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="250" /></a>Keyboard &amp; Touchpad</strong><br />
The full-size keyboard is a departure from the original one used in the 15-inch (Penryn). The new MacBook Pro adopts the non-interconnecting, groove-less keys from the MacBook Air and the new MacBook 13-inch (Aluminum). Typing is an absolute pleasure, not a chore, and the illuminated keyboard is a great asset in darkly lit areas. Competitors like the HDX16t and the Studio 15 use more traditional keyboards.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify">Evidently, the thought never occurred to anyone that a touchpad and mouse button can be combined into a single entity, thereby creating a larger surface to scroll, click and navigate. Aside from Apple, anyway. The touchpad slopes downward allowing you to click at the bottom, left and right hand sides of it, but not at the top. Apple even figured out the right sensitivity levels to use for the mouse click button. Clicking the entire touchpad seemed awkward at first, but it didn&#8217;t take long for me to get used to it. And then there&#8217;s the elusive right click mouse button that in the past could only be triggered with the help of the Control key. In Leopard&#8217;s System Preferences, you can designate the touchpad to right-click simply by applying two fingers or a single finger to the right and left bottom corners.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify">The new MacBook Pros come with gesture capabilities as well. In addition to pinching, rotating, and enlarging with two fingers, you can swipe four fingers to the right or left to switch between applications. Swiping upwards with four fingers will trigger the Expose application, while swiping four fingers downwards will bring up the dashboard. Applying three fingers to it will let you peruse through photos in the iPhoto application. This is very cool stuff.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify"><strong>Display and Audio</strong><br />
As usual, we loved the bright and crisp 15.6-inch display on the MacBook Pro. Its resolution of 1440 x 900 pixels is adequate, though we suspect many photographers and other creative pros will opt for the 1680 x 1050-pixel option. While reflections from the glossy display weren’t overwhelming, it’s also nice to know there’s an antiglare option&#8211;though only for the higher resolution display. Still, colors were bright, blacks were deep and dark, and viewing angles were excellent both vertically and horizontally.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify">Speakers on either side of the keyboard provided very good audio. At full volume, the Black Eyed Peas “I Gotta Feelin” filled a small room; higher tones were crisp without sounding distorted, and lower notes, such as the bass line in the song, had enough presence without being overwhelming.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify"><strong>Ports</strong><br />
Unfortunately, its feature set is the one place where the new MacBook Pro couldn&#8217;t deliver. Built-in media card readers are found in almost every laptop on the market—except those with the Apple logo. With the proliferation of digital cameras, you&#8217;d think that Apple would at least include an SD slot. The MacBook Pro, however, did manage to carry forward the ExpressCard slot, for expansion devices like mobile broadband. According to Steve Jobs, Apple&#8217;s reluctance to support Blu-Ray drives revolves around licensing and cost issues. If you run down the HDX16t&#8217;s features list, you can find things like Blu-Ray drives, a media card reader, E-SATA and HDMI ports—those are features that MacBook Pro users will miss.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify">At least for current MacBook Pro owners, the features didn&#8217;t get any worse. There are 2 USB ports, a Firewire 800 port, Ethernet, optical out and a headphone jack. The slot-loading DVD burner works the same way as older generation drives. The one significant change is cutting off DVI-out in favor of DisplayPort. Apple and Lenovo believe that DisplayPort is the video port of the future, while every other laptop manufacturer is betting on HDMI. Either technology, though, can drive both audio and video to an external display; DVI-Out carries video only. There are minor storage enhancements as well, such as the addition of a 320GB hard drive (5,400rpm and 7,200rpm versions), and an insanely expensive 128GB SSD option ($500). And of course, the MagSafe magnetic adapter, the iSight webcam, and the Apple remote can also be found on the new MacBook Pro.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify"><strong>Performance</strong><br />
Like other systems we’ve tested with the Intel Core i7-620M processor, the MacBook Pro returned superb results, especially considering it was paired with 4GB of RAM. After installing Windows 7, we ran PCMark Vantage in Boot Camp, and saw a score of 6699; that’s nearly double the mainstream average of 3,885, not to mention the previous 15-inch MacBook Pro’s score of 3,285 (which used a 2.66-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 4GB of RAM). The HP Envy 15, which uses a 1.6-GHz Intel Core i7-720QM processor and 6GB of RAM, came in about 500 points lower, at 6,173. However, the Sony Vaio Z, which had a 2.4-GHz Core i5-520M processor, scored a much 9936 (though that system had dual SSDs).</p>
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		<title>CEO Champion : Sony VAIO X Series</title>
		<link>http://www.primenotebook.com/ceo-champion-sony-vaio-x-series.html</link>
		<comments>http://www.primenotebook.com/ceo-champion-sony-vaio-x-series.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 13 Apr 2010 03:14:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>tito</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Notebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[aluminum body]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[brushed aluminum]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dell Adamo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[edition gold]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gold version]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Laptop]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[MacBook Air]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sony Vaio]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Universal Serial Bus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[VAIO]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Vaio X]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Windows 7]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[YouTube]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.primenotebook.com/?p=72545</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Sleek, sexy, and slim, the Sony VAIO X Series is the perfect netbook for the stylish, executive jet-setter. While this machine is smaller than most netbooks  and measures just 0.55 inch thick, it packs a bit more gusto&#8211;and, starting at $1299 (our unit sells for $1499, as of 11/10/09), it carries an over-the-top price tag [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: justify"><a href="http://www.primenotebook.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/vaio.jpg"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-72544" src="http://www.primenotebook.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/vaio.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="300" /></a>Sleek, sexy, and slim, the Sony VAIO X Series is the perfect netbook for the stylish, executive jet-setter. While this machine is smaller than most netbooks  and measures just 0.55 inch thick, it packs a bit more gusto&#8211;and, starting at $1299 (our unit sells for $1499, as of 11/10/09), it carries an over-the-top price tag that screams, &#8220;CEO only!&#8221;</p>
<p style="text-align: justify">I quickly fell for the golden, brushed-aluminum body and the matching widely spaced keys. (Not feeling flashy enough for the limited-edition gold version, like the one we received? The X Series also comes in black.) Measuring 10.95 by 7.29 by 0.55 inches and weighing 1.6 pounds, the X Series out-smalls the MacBook Air and gives the upcoming Dell Adamo XPS a run for its money.<span id="more-72545"></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify">The X Series boasts an 11.1-inch screen that measures merely 0.125 inch thick. The laptop comes with two interchangeable batteries: a standard (3.5-hour) battery and a larger, heavier, battery-and-stand combo that supposedly lasts for up to 14 hours, according to Sony spokespeople. They were wrong. It lasts just a few minutes under 15 hours &#8212; that&#8217;s easily the longest running laptop we&#8217;ve tested to date.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify"><strong>Design</strong><br />
It’s hard to overstate just how light and tiny Sony’s new Wunderkind truly is. It measures half an inch thick, and weighs 1.5 pounds. This is a notebook you can flip around like a magazine, lift from the corner with a thumb and two fingers, and probably send into the stratosphere with a dozen or so balloons. If the MacBook Air can cut a cake, the Vaio X can probably perform minor surgery.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify">Don’t take that to mean that the Vaio X feels insubstantial. Sony has called upon the wonder of carbon fiber to give the notebook stiffness and rigidity totally out of proportion to its weight. We were able to wring a bit of flex out of it by intentionally grabbing two corners and giving it a twist, but the small size of the machine and impossibly light weight means that it never really encounters this sort of stress during every day handling. We only batted an eye when adjusting the screen with one hand from the side, which made us wish it had a little more reinforcement. Fond as Sony is of glossy paintjobs, our carbon-fiber review unit came decked out in stealthy matte black from head to toe – an arrangement we much prefer. Although it doesn’t offer the durable rubbery feel of say, a ThinkPad, it shakes off fingerprints and other marring all the same.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify"><strong>Keyboard</strong><br />
The thing that I like most design wise (apart from the fact I could successfully balance it on its corner in the palm of my hand like they do in adverts. Not that I tried of course because that would just be irresponsible is the well spaced keyboard. My big issue with laptops is that they’re a devil to type on, but this one genuinely does accommodate fat fingers and overly eager typers! And Sony seems to love putting that tiny right Shift key on all its ultraportable keyboards. Multitouch comes turned on by default, which makes a hard-to-use trackpad almost impossible to use since moving your finger often results in some flavor of zooming, scrolling, or whatever else they’ve baked into it. I turned off all that stuff within a few minutes – even vertical scrolling. After that, it worked well enough to not have to carry a Bluetooth mouse. I have rather large hands but even normal or small hands will seem big when typing or using the trackpad. You do get used to things after a while, though.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify"><strong>Ports</strong><br />
When you’re designing a notebook as thin as some of the connectors that will plug into it, you have to get a little creative. Sony engineers rose to the occasion. The VGA connector on the right, for instance, matches the height of the notebook almost identically, and therefore isn’t even shielded in from all sides: The bottom edge has been left bare and sits flush with the bottom of the notebook. Along the same lines, the right-hand Ethernet port literally snaps open like a jaw to accommodate the standard connector, which would be too fat to fit without this python-like adaptation. Sony also provides two USB ports, a headphone jack, and a power jack on the left-hand side. We really wish Sony had managed to move one of the USB jacks to the right; both to accommodate for right-handed travel mice, and to prevent the overlapping problems you might encounter when connecting oversized accessories like thumb drives or mini camcorders. Up front, you’ll find both an SD card reader and a slot for Sony’s Memory Stick Duo cards.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify"><strong>Display and Audio</strong><br />
sony_vaio_x_sh3.jpgAs befitting a netbook that costs $1,500, the VAIO X’s 11.1-inch screen has a higher-than-usual resolution of 1366 x 768; we’ve only seen this standard on the Gigabyte Touchnote T1028X. This is becoming a more common option, however, such as on theHP Mini 110. While this resolution tends to make icons too small on 10-inch netbooks, we didn’t mind it as much on an 11-inch screen. When watching content streamed over the Web or played off the VAIO X’s hard drive, we were impressed with the crispness and wide viewing angles of the display; we could turn it nearly 90 degrees to either side without seeing image reversal or egregious reflections. Being as thin as it is, we’re not surprised at the lack of audio quality in the VAIO X. Songs were thin and tinny; the bass line in Aerosmith’s “Dream On” streamed over Pandora was nonexistent, and the speakers could barely fill a small office with sound.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify">
<p style="text-align: justify"><strong>Performance</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: justify">The Vaio X is a beautiful piece of machinery. Downright gorgeous, in fact. But can it perform any better than a $400 netbook? Yes and no. On one hand, the 2.0GHz processor seems to give it that little extra bit of spring in its step. It handles Windows 7 just fine, minus the flashy Aero bits (they come turned off by default). It snaps open browser windows in a split second, breezes through photos, and boots to the Windows desktop in 55 seconds. Not bad.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify">Sony X Series ReviewBut the same walls that bind your $400 netbook still apply to the Vaio X. It will handle YouTube, but has trouble scaling even standard-def content to fill its 1366 x 768 pixels in full screen mode. Hulu bumps it against the same wall. (Incidentally, shifting resolution to 1024 x 768 for the sake of testing fixes the problem, explaining why many lesser netbooks pull this trick just fine.) And don’t even try any gaming. The Vaio X suffers from the same handicaps as a netbook, but it’s worth noting that experientially, it doesn’t feel like a netbook. By virtue of running Windows 7 and offering a bright WXGA screen, we’re dealing with a whole different level of refinement from the dime-a-dozen XP machines with half as many pixels to drive. When you play within the boundaries, it doesn’t announce them to you.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify">Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the Vaio X’s performance cropped up when we fired up music on the built-in speakers. The single down-firing speaker – which hides behind a grille no bigger than half a keyboard key – emits barely a whisper. With the built-in battery, which sits flush to the bottom, Sony’s three-hour battery life estimate proved closer to two hours for us. However, Sony includes an extended-life battery with every unit. Although significantly bulkier, it delivered a clean 10 hours at full brightness – not all that far from Sony’s 12-hour claim.</p>
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		<title>Mac Clone : The HP Envy 13</title>
		<link>http://www.primenotebook.com/mac-clone-the-hp-envy-13.html</link>
		<comments>http://www.primenotebook.com/mac-clone-the-hp-envy-13.html#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 22 Mar 2010 06:21:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>tito</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Notebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Apple]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[discerning consumers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Envy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hardware]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[HP]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Intel Core 2]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[lightweight notebook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[MacBook]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[MacBook Air]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[MacbookPro]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Macintosh]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Personal computer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[personal systems group]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ted clark]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.primenotebook.com/?p=72390</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Now that Windows 7 is starting to close the gap with Apple’s operating system, it’s only fitting that it runs on systems that come closer to Apple’s vaunted design. One of the first to approach this ideal is the HP Envy 13 (starting at $1,699; $1,899 as configured). In both looks and performance, this system [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.primenotebook.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/hp-envy-13-laptop-300x3001.jpg"><img src="http://www.primenotebook.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/hp-envy-13-laptop-300x3001.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="300" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-72421" /></a>
<p style="text-align: justify">Now that Windows 7 is starting to close the gap with Apple’s operating system, it’s only fitting that it runs on systems that come closer to Apple’s vaunted design. One of the first to approach this ideal is the HP Envy 13 (starting at $1,699; $1,899 as configured). In both looks and performance, this system meets or exceeds all of its Windows competitors. However, the Envy 13 costs $500 more than the 13-inch MacBook Pro. For that premium, HP rewards you with faster performance, switchable graphics, a brighter screen, and up to 14 hours of battery life (with the optional slice). However, the Envy 13 has a few flaws that otherwise prevent this system from being the ultimate ultraportable.</p>
<p><span id="more-72390"></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify">Design<br />
HP says that the new notebooks, announced today, are built from the &#8220;Voodoo Envy legacy,&#8221; but the design appears to borrow a lot from Apple&#8217;s unibody MacBook Pro line. Zoom&#8221;HP Envy includes the latest in materials and technology inside and out and pushes the technological and performance boundaries of what can be done in sleek, powerful and lightweight notebook PCs,&#8221; said Ted Clark, senior vice president and general manager, Notebook Global Business Unit, Personal Systems Group, HP. &#8220;Discerning consumers will get a premium experience and performance. Like the MacBook Pros, the Envy 13 and Envy 15 feature metal casing – though HP&#8217;s offering uses a combination of both aluminum and magnesium, making it lighter at the expense of losing some rigidity.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.primenotebook.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/hp-envy-13-laptop-gallery-01.jpg"><img src="http://www.primenotebook.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/hp-envy-13-laptop-gallery-01.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="300" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-72422" /></a>
<p style="text-align: justify">Keyboard and Touchpad<br />
As noted above, the Envy 13 has a full-size island-style keyboard. Its plastic black keys are smooth and comfortable to the touch, and snap back responsively when pressed. There are no dedicated multimedia buttons, but the Function key operations have been reversed, so you no longer need to press Fn in order to adjust the volume, change music, and so forth; it’s a welcome change. HP stole another card from the MacBook with its multitouch trackpad, which they are calling the ClickPad. I‘d suggest another and more appropriate name: FrustrationPad. The buttons are built into the touchpad. While it works fine as a normal trackpad—the left and right mouse button work just like a normal one—the frustration arrives when you try the gestures. Unlike the Apple touchpads, you have to activate the gestures by lightly touching two fingers on the pad. (I only learned this from reading the manual.) Once it is cued up, it responds to certain multitouch gestures, like pinching to zoom. Unfortunately, some gestures just seem to confuse the pad and it decides it doesn&#8217;t want to respond. Two-finger scrolling is a great example: it took me quite awhile to get the hang of trying to scroll down NYTimes.com, and when I did it was finicky. I missed the MacBook touchpad like a baby misses breast milk. And if you think I am just bad with my fingers, a number of people tried the trackpad and found the same problem. As for the island style keyboard, I love it. If it were only backlit, though, it would be total perfection.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify">Display and Audio<br />
When powered off the 13.1-inch frameless display looks exactly like that found on the MacBook, complete with the silver frame surrounding the black flush bezel. But that all changes when the system is powered on and the 1600&#215;900 resolution LED Infinity WS display is illuminated. Dubbed the HP Radiance, the 410 nit display has an 82 percent color gamut (versus standard 45-60 percent). Not only are viewing angles good, but colors just pop and are incredibly bright. Compared to the 15-Inch MacBook Pro, the Envy looked crisper and more vivid, though the MacBook looked more natural. While my eyes didn&#8217;t hurt after about six hours of consistent use, I was warned that the increased dots per inch could be hard on the eyes over a longer period of time. The Envy 13’s built-in speakers were somewhat underwhelming. When listening to Bruce Spingsteen’s “Hungry Heart” streamed from Pandora, there was a noticeable lack of bass; Clarence Clemons’ sax often became lost among the other instruments. When we plugged in a pair of Bose QuietComfort headphones, the difference was like night and day; sound was full and well represented, from the tinkling of the high notes on the piano to Max Weinberg’s snare drum. That’s because the Envy 13 partnered with Beats by Dr. Dre to custom design the audio subsystem. Likewise, we could clearly hear the driving bass line on Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down” without it being overwhelming.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.primenotebook.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/hp_envy_13_right-closeup2.jpg"><img src="http://www.primenotebook.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/hp_envy_13_right-closeup2.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="300" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-72424" /></a>
<p style="text-align: justify">Ports and Webcam<br />
In order to keep its svelte profile, the Envy 13 also shares a disturbing trait with the MacBook Air: a decided lack of ports. On the right side are two USB ports, HDMI, and an audio port. On the right is an SD Card slot and the power port. For Ethernet connectivity, users must attach the USB. If you like to cam with people in the dark, the Envy 15 has a Nightvision VGA LED-assist infrared webcam that is optimized for low-light or zero-light conditions.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify">Battery Life and Wi-Fi<br />
The Intel WiFi Link 5100AGN delivered throughput of 20.8 Mbps at 15 feet and 16.7 Mbps at 50 feet; that’s in line with the ultraportable category averages (19.4/16.7 Mbps). While integrated mobile broadband is not an option, the Envy 13 does come with Bluetooth 2.1. When you pull the power cord, the Envy 13 automatically switches to integrated graphics mode (although users can easily switch it back to discrete). Using the integrated graphics, on our LAPTOP Battery Test (Web surfing via Wi-Fi), the removable four-cell battery on the Envy 13 lasted 4 hours and 19 minutes, about 40 minutes shy of the ultraportable average; with the slice battery, the system lasted 10:23.</p>
<p>Full Spec<br />
CPU 2.13-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo SL9600<br />
Operating System MS Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)<br />
The amount of memory our reviewed configuration comes with.<br />
RAM 3GB (Upgradable to 5GB)<br />
Hard Drive Size	250GB<br />
Hard Drive Speed 5,400rpm<br />
Display Size 13.1<br />
Native Resolution 1600&#215;900<br />
Optical Drive External BD-ROM/DVD<br />
Graphics Card ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4330 (discrete); Intel GMA 4500MHD (integrated)<br />
Video Memory 512MB<br />
Wi-Fi 802.11a/g/n<br />
Bluetooth Bluetooth 2.1<br />
Mobile Broadband<br />
Ports (excluding USB) HDMI; Headphone; Microphone<br />
USB Ports 2<br />
Warranty/Support 1-year/24/7 toll-free<br />
Size	12.6 x 8.5 x 0.8 inches<br />
Weight	3.8 pounds (5.2 pounds with slice battery)</p>
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